Ship

Deploy a Next.js app

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Ship a Next.js app to a Lessly environment, with env vars and a live URL.

Problem

You have a Next.js app in a git repo and you want it running on Lessly — the framework build detected, your environment variables in place, and a live URL — without writing a Dockerfile or a CI pipeline.

UI

1. In app.lessly.com, create an app and connect the git repo you want to deploy.
2. Choose the branch to ship. Lessly detects Next.js and fills in the build — the build command, the output directory, and the Node version — so a standard project needs no configuration.
3. Open the environment’s variables and add the entries from your .env. Mark passwords and API keys as secrets so their values stay hidden.
4. Click Deploy. Lessly streams the build log as it runs.
5. When the build finishes, the app’s page shows the live production URL. Open it — your app is live.

MCP

The same flow through the Lessly MCP server in your agent. Token scope: a key with deploy access to the app. If you haven’t installed the MCP yet, see Install.

Open the repo in your agent and ask in plain language:

“Deploy the main branch of this repo to my staging environment.”

Your agent calls deployment_service_create. It reads the repo, detects Next.js, picks the build, and starts the deploy — the new service comes up in an initializing state while the build runs.

Add your variables next. They live on the environment and are shared by every service in it:

“Set the variables from my .env on staging, and mark the secrets.”

The agent calls deployment_variable_set_env once per entry, hiding any you flag as secret. Then roll the service so it picks them up:

“Redeploy staging so it uses the new variables.”

That calls deployment_service_redeploy.

Verify it works

Ask your agent for the deploy’s status:

“What’s the status of that deploy?”

The agent calls deployment_deployment_get and reports building, then ready (or error), along with the URL. In the dashboard, the build log finishes and the app’s page shows the same URL. Open it — the app answers on its Lessly URL.

Variations

What Lessly detects. For a Next.js app, Lessly reads the framework, the build command, the output directory, and the Node version from your project, so a standard create-next-app builds with no extra configuration.

NEXT_PUBLIC_ variables. Next.js inlines any NEXT_PUBLIC_ value into the bundle at build time, not at run time. Set these before you deploy — or add them and then deployment_service_redeploy, because a variable added after the build isn’t in the shipped bundle. To see what’s already set, ask your agent to list the environment’s variables; it calls deployment_variable_list_env, with secret values masked.

When a deploy doesn’t come up. If the status comes back error, start with the build log in the dashboard — look for the failing step, such as a missing dependency, a bad build script, or a variable the build needed but didn’t have. If the build completed but the app won’t start, read its runtime output with deployment_service_logs.

Next steps

• Your first deploy — the same flow, guided, at tutorial pace.
• Roll back a deploy — promote the last good deploy if a release goes wrong.
• Add a custom domain — serve the app on a domain you own.